Perceptions of cigarettes and e-cigarettes: does health literacy matter?

J Am Coll Health

Department of Psychology, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsylvania, USA.

Published: November 2023

Objective: This study assessed the relationship between health literacy, perceptions of traditional and electronic cigarettes, and smoking status among college students.

Participants: Participants ( = 150; = 20.41 years, 3.48), included nonsmokers (78%) and smokers (21%) of traditional (12%) and e-cigarettes (17%).

Method: Participants completed a novel questionnaire to assess perceptions of traditional and e-cigarettes, and the Health Literacy Skills Instrument to evaluate health literacy.

Results: Traditional cigarettes were perceived as having a greater negative impact on physical health than e-cigarettes, whereas e-cigarettes were perceived as having a greater positive impact on social-emotional health than traditional cigarettes. Most participants (57%) had below basic health literacy skills.

Conclusions: This study did not find a relationship between health literacy skills and smoking status or smoking perceptions. Further research is needed to investigate correlates of smoking status and perceptions to inform prevention and cessation efforts.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1979008DOI Listing

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